Parading in the citys public space : Migrant Belonging through the Hare Krishna festivities

Abstract

The cosmopolitan character of Lisbon along with the process of touristification and gentrification of the city in the past ten years has changed its cultural activities. It also influenced the way in which the Lisbon City Council decided to integrate (or not) immigrant communities into a social and cultural policy focusing on “interculturality”. Immigrant neighbourhoods become tourist districts with “diversity”, changing the inhabitants’ very relationship with the city. Through the Yatra Ratha Festival, Hare Krishna devotees and Hindu immigrants together appropriate the public space to express themselves in the city where they live. I propose to discuss the role of performance in the public space as an expressive practice that provides moments of union between a diverse group of immigrants living in Lisbon who, despite having similar religious practices associated with Hinduism, belong to different religious groups and countries of origin. I argue that through the Ratha Yatra, participatory performance in the form of collective mantras, singing and dancing, becomes fundamental to creating a sense of belonging to the city of Lisbon.

Keywords

• migration
• performance
• hare krishna
• public space
• expressive practices